


sometimes the best way to learn how to swim is to drown

by upsettyspaghetty456



Series: Six! Circus AU!! [1]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Angst, How Do I Tag, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mental Breakdown, My First Fanfic, implied flashback, trapeze AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upsettyspaghetty456/pseuds/upsettyspaghetty456
Summary: Katherine Howard is falling apart and Jane Seymour is trying to hold her together.in other words, I suck at summaries and this is the trapeze/circus AU that nobody asked for!
Series: Six! Circus AU!! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984375
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	sometimes the best way to learn how to swim is to drown

**Author's Note:**

> ahhh it's my first time posting anything, any feedback will be appreciated!  
> this is intended to be a one-shot but if people are actually interested in this AU I could definitely add more!

Jane is one of the circuses ‘mums’ and much to Katherines ‘annoyance’, she seems to have claimed her as one of her adopted kids. Katherine isn’t the only one though, Annie hasn’t escaped Janes unexplainable need to mother others. Jane, despite only being two years older than Katherine, has an undeniable maternal aura that seems to follow her wherever she goes. On most days Katherine puts up with Janes constant reminders to drink water and to warm up correctly but today Katherines head was already pounding, whether it was the lack of breakfast or the nauseating red and yellow of the circus tent, she doesn’t know. 

Jane must notice though, she offers to walk Katherine home after practice. Great. Just great. When they arrive at Katherines small apartment complex, she invites Jane in for dinner and a cup of tea ‘do I even have teabags? Or sugar? Or milk??’ Katherine thought as she led Jane into what should be the living room (it currently looked more like cramped, crowded, overused yet unlived in shed) and vaguely gestured for Jane to sit down somewhere. Katherine could feel herself slipping into the past as she sat next to Jane, she has to get up, she has to get up NOW. “I’m going to go and start the dinner” Katherine jumped up from the couch and makes her way to the kitchen, she knows that Jane replies but Janes words fall upon deaf ears as Katherine is no longer standing in her small hallway, no, she’s back in her old bedroom, at her fathers' house...

————————————sometime later————————————————

Jane jumped when she heard the crash coming from what she could only assume was the kitchen ‘Katherine is an adult; she can take care of herself’, A second crash from the kitchen proved Jane wrong as she jumped up out of her seat at the round table and slowly but surely made her way through the unfamiliar house. "Katherine, you ok love?” the twenty-four-year-old asked when she reached the door to the kitchen. When she didn’t receive an answer, Jane looked at the closed door for a second before hesitantly giving it a slight nudge. As the door opened, Jane gasped. no. Katherine was not alright. 

Katherine flinched when she heard Jane gasp, but she didn’t move her gaze from the floor, the older woman was already worried about her and now Katherine has just proved that she can’t even make a simple stir-fry without dropping the dinner plates. Great. Just great. Katherines eyes begin to water as she blindly reached out behind her, trying to find something to grab on to, something to ground her. 'no’ she thinks ‘you will not cry over this Katherine; you are going to look at her and tell her that you just dropped the plates and that you’re ok’ Katherine lifted her head to look at Jane but as she opened her mouth to explain what had happened, the words that she desperately wanted to say didn’t fall from her lips, a strangled sob escaped instead, then, Katherine broke down.

Katherine sank to her knees, fully expecting to become one with her kitchen floor but, much to her surprise, she feels a pair of warm arms wrap around her and it feels...nice? Is this what comfort should feel like? When her parents hugged Katherine as a child, it had always felt rushed. As if she was the box in a Childs’ game of pass the parcel, everyone eager to hold onto her for the shortest time possible and when they held her for too long, they peeled back one of the many layers that Katherine had wrapped herself up in, then, they simply passed her onto the next person. That cycle continued until there was nothing left to unwrap, the party was over, and all that Katherine was left with was the torn pieces of paper she had to reassemble, and Katherine was tired of getting paper cuts.


End file.
